St. Louis-based Emerson, the parent company of Racine-based garbage disposal manufacturer InSinkErator, today announced updated expansion plans for InSinkErator’s operations in southeastern Wisconsin.
The projects include $34 million for the previously announced plans for a new headquarters and lab facility in Mount Pleasant. The 85,000-square-foot facility will be built on an 11.5-acre site at the southwest corner of Highway 20 and International Drive. The facility will house 175 engineers and professional staff that are now located at InSinkErator’s current headquarters at 4700 21st St. in Racine.
Racine County is providing a $4.65 million loan for the InSinkErator headquarters project and the Village of Mount Pleasant is providing $600,000 in tax incremental financing.
In addition, Emerson plans to do $29 million in improvements to InSinkErator’s existing Racine manufacturing facility. The upgrades, which will be done over the next two years, will reconfigure the Racine manufacturing site to optimize workflow and make room for future growth, the company said.
The new headquarters for InSinkErator is expected to be complete in July of 2018 and the reconfiguration of the Racine plant is expected to be complete in the fall of 2019. The new headquarters facility was designed by Fox Architects of St. Louis. The general contractor is Riley Construction of Kenosha.
Emerson and InSinkErator hosted an unveiling event today at the current Racine facility to reveal the final design plans for the new headquarters building.
“Our new modern headquarters and state-of-the-art lab space will facilitate continued InSinkErator innovation and growth, enabling us to showcase the leading technologies that we’re developing here in Wisconsin,” said Chad Severson, InSinkErator’s president. “With the expansion to Mount Pleasant, we can optimize the layout of the Racine facility for improved product flow and additional capacity.”
The projects are part of nearly $150 million in investments that Emerson will make in southeast Wisconsin between 2015-19, including: $24.9 million to build the Kenosha facility, which opened in 2015, and $60 million in “sustaining investment funding for various other needs,” according to a news release from the company.
InSinkErator employs 1,200 people in southeast Wisconsin.
“Southeast Wisconsin continues to be an important area of operations for Emerson’s InSinkErator business,” said Bob Sharp, executive president, Emerson Commercial & Residential Solutions. “InSinkErator is a dynamic part of our Commercial & Residential Solutions business having invented the food waste disposer in 1927, and we’re committed to positioning InSinkErator for continued growth and success.”
